E3 Bachelor Design Studio

In times of space and resource scarcity, architecture must develop new solutions for how we
use, interpret, and adapt spaces in multiple ways. Instead of responding to this scarcity with
reduction and densification, we will focus on smarter strategies of material distribution and
volumetric design methods that also include construction. Programmatically, the volumetric
synchronization of functions and inhabitation in space can lead to novel typologies and
innovative patterns of use. We will develop strategies to understand scarcity as an
opportunity for design – thinning out material creates more volume, and simultaneity of
programs adds architectural and design value – with the aim to find novel and exciting
aesthetics. This year students will develop an “institute” as the core of their project; the institute can
have any agenda or theme – e.g. from the arts, culture, science, nature, politics, or the like.
The institute will be a place of research, learning, debate and communication, and (public)
knowledge exchange. Depending on its focus it will include spaces such as a forum,
laboratories, theaters, exhibition areas, work spaces, and many more. This core program will
be first developed and then blended with other programs to establish an overall hybrid
building program in which space can not only be shared by the various user groups and
functions, but also reconfigured, adapted or temporarily altered according to cycles of use,
seasons, weather, ect. The building will synthesize its various agendas and programmatic
content in an aesthetic, spatial and volumetric* manner.
Using the same volumetric and hybrid design approach, students will also consider
alternative strategies of materialization, fabrication, and building performance, such as how
to create buildings that climatically interact with their surroundings and become expressive
about that exchange, which act cyclically or adjust to the current presence of energy, which
can expand or compress, or even dissolve its parts in an ecologically friendly manner if not
needed anymore.